The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, thinks that people make mistakes when they associate money with the economy. Musk believes that money is “worthless”
against the actual economy. He said this while speaking to Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Axel Springer, on the WELT Documentary channel in April 2022. This statement from Musk came just after he announced his decision to overtake Twitter. “What is an economy? People get confused; sometimes they think an economy is money. (But), money is a database for the exchange of requisite services, and for time-shifting the exchange of written services, that's it. Money is a database; it doesn't have power in and of itself,” noted Tesla Chief. Further explaining his stance, Musk said, “You can run the thought experiment: You're trapped, shipwrecked, on a remote island, and you have a trillion dollars in a Swiss bank account, it's worthless. You would rather have a can of soup. You can have all the Bitcoin in the world, and you're still going to starve. The actual economy is goods and services.” Human Labour Is The Key Musk further argued that human labour, not capital or demand, is the key factor holding back economic output. According to the tech billionaire, labour is what ultimately “limits output of goods and services,” and once that constraint is removed, the very definition of an economy could change. “The limiting factor for the economy is labour, and so if you address the limiting factor for the economy, then it's not clear that an economy in the traditional sense has any meaning. Because you have no constraint on goods and services, we (will) decide to make (things) scarce, like a particular piece of art,” he said. Musk has repeatedly stressed a future shaped by artificial intelligence and robotics, where abundance replaces scarcity. Just last week, he suggested that within the next 10 to 20 years, people may no longer need to save for retirement, as AI-driven systems could ensure universal access to healthcare, housing, and income. “One like side recommendation I have is, don't worry about squirrelling money away for retirement. In 10 or 20 years, you won't need to save for retirement. If any of the things that we've said are true, saving for retirement will be irrelevant,” he added. Speaking on the Moonshots with Peter Diamandis podcast, Musk expressed confidence that advances in AI and robotics would unlock what he called “sustainable abundance.” He noted that similar views were shared by him as early as 2022, when he told Springer that technology would eventually overcome labour shortages by automating most forms of work. When Work Becomes Optional Musk has gone even further on social media. In October 2025, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that AI and robots would eventually replace all jobs, effectively making work optional. “AI and robots will replace all jobs. Working will be optional, like growing your own vegetables, instead of buying them from the store,” he said. Earlier, in an interview with US Senator Ted Cruz, Musk suggested that the future cost of goods and services could approach zero. With “tens of billions of robots” capable of producing almost anything on demand, he said, most products and services would be available for “basically next to nothing.”
